Students living in Davis Apartments on campus were rudely awakened last night when a loud blast rocked their building shortly after midnight.
“It shook the whole room and even knocked our door handle off,” recalled roommates Adam Carr and Stephen Hill, two residents whose dorm is located only a few feet away from the three-foot-wide hole in the sand of the volleyball court located directly behind Davis. “It was crazy – there was just a big boom and then this big puff of smoke.”
“There were a bunch of people who came up from Cooper and McCord to see what happened, and most of Davis was outside or looking off their balconies.” said Craig Cato, one of the students who was in their rooms in Davis during the time of the blast. “We even had a couple people from the Tree Streets, like five blocks away come by because they heard it so loud, and people in late night study in the library came up wandering what happened too . apparently it was loud enough to freak them out down there.”
“We all heard it, it sounded like thunder except a lot closer – we felt the room shake – our friends across the hall claimed that it had blown the blinds off their window,” said Will Hargis, McCord resident.
Campus public safety officers also heard the blast and were some of the first to arrive on the scene.
“It left a very shallow impression in the sand where the device was detonated – it appears to be a homemade device constructed with bottle rockets” said Campus Public Safety Chief Jack Cotrel. “It is a serious situation, one that fortunately resulted in no property damage or injuries . however the potential for damage was certainly there.”
Bomb technicians from Johnson City were also on the scene last night along with agents from Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The State Fire Marshall’s office arrived this morning just to offer their expertise on what type of device it might have been.
Little now remains at the crime scene itself aside from the noticeable impression in the sand and the yellow police tape that now partially encloses volleyball field. Most of the evidence was collected last night.
“It is an active investigation, it is ongoing, we have some interviews to conduct and will be sending some evidence that was collected to the crime lab,” Cotrel said. “If we can prove without a doubt who did this they will be prosecuted.

Author